[iOS 26] Fix back button color not applied for NavigationPage

[Shalini-Ashokan]

Note

Are you waiting for the changes in this PR to be merged?
It would be very helpful if you could test the resulting artifacts from this PR and let us know in a comment if this change resolves your issue. Thank you!

Issue Details

On iOS 26, setting a color for the navigation back button text or arrow image has no effect.

Root Cause

iOS 26's Liquid Glass navigation bar no longer honors the standard tint color property for back button elements. Apple changed the rendering pipeline so the back button and text ignore the previously used tint color API.

Description of Change

On iOS 26+, apply the back button color through the navigation bar appearance's back button appearance configuration instead. Set the text color via title text attributes on the back button appearance, and manually tint the back arrow image using the desired color with always-original rendering mode to prevent the system from overriding it.

Validated the behavior in the following platforms

• Android
• Windows
• iOS
• Mac

Issues Fixed

Fixes #33966

Output ScreenShot

Before	After

[github-actions]

🚀 Dogfood this PR with:

⚠️ WARNING: Do not do this without first carefully reviewing the code of this PR to satisfy yourself it is safe.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dotnet/maui/main/eng/scripts/get-maui-pr.sh | bash -s -- 34326

Or

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[dotnet-policy-service]

Hey there @@Shalini-Ashokan! Thank you so much for your PR! Someone from the team will get assigned to your PR shortly and we'll get it reviewed.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR fixes an iOS 26 regression where setting a color for the navigation back button (text and arrow) has no effect due to iOS 26's Liquid Glass navigation bar no longer honoring the standard TintColor property for back button elements.

Changes:

• On iOS 26+, applies back button color through the navigation bar appearance's BackButtonAppearance configuration, setting text color via title text attributes and manually tinting the back arrow image with AlwaysOriginal rendering mode.
• Updates the existing screenshot test to remove tolerance/retryTimeout parameters and adds a new iOS 26-specific reference snapshot.
• Refactors the useCustomColor logic into a local variable for clarity.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
src/Controls/src/Core/Compatibility/Handlers/NavigationPage/iOS/NavigationRenderer.cs	Adds iOS 26+ workaround to apply back button color via UIBarButtonItemAppearance and custom tinted back arrow image instead of relying on TintColor.
src/Controls/tests/TestCases.Shared.Tests/Tests/FeatureMatrix/NavigationPageFeatureTests.cs	Removes tolerance and retryTimeout parameters from VerifyScreenshot() call in the combined bar background/text/icon color test.
src/Controls/tests/TestCases.iOS.Tests/snapshots/ios-26/Combine_BarBackgroundColor_TextColor_IconColor_Visual.png	New reference screenshot for iOS 26 showing the expected back button color rendering.

[kubaflo]

🤖 AI Summary

📊 Expand Full Review

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🔍 Pre-Flight — Context & Validation

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📝 Review Session — Address review feedback: remove iOS 26 skip and fix naming · 1d2c8a0

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Issue: #33966 - [iOS] Color not applied to the Back button text or image on iOS 26
PR: #34326 - [iOS 26] Fix back button color not applied for NavigationPage
Author: Shalini-Ashokan (community/Syncfusion partner)
Platforms Affected: iOS 26 only (platform/ios + version/iOS-26 labels)
Files Changed: 1 implementation file, 1 test file, 1 new snapshot

Issue Summary

On iOS 26, setting a color for the navigation back button (text or arrow image) has no effect. iOS 26's Liquid Glass navigation bar changed its rendering pipeline so that UINavigationBar.TintColor no longer affects back button elements. Issue was validated in VS Code 1.109.0 with MAUI 10.0.31.

Prior Agent Review

A prior agent review exists (from kubaflo, commit 1576d263). At that time:

• Gate FAILED because Combine_BarBackgroundColor_TextColor_IconColor_Visual still had Assert.Ignore for iOS 26
• Agent requested changes to remove the Assert.Ignore guards

Current state (commit 1d2c8a01): Author addressed feedback:

• ✅ Removed Assert.Ignore from Combine_BarBackgroundColor_TextColor_IconColor_Visual
• ✅ Fixed naming: backimage → backImage
• ⚠️ SetIconColor_Red_Purple_Default_Visual still has Assert.Ignore for iOS 26 (line 252-254)
• ⚠️ Issue17228.CustomBackButtonShouldBeRed still has Assert.Ignore for iOS 26 (line 20-22)

Fix Approach

The PR modifies NavigationRenderer.UpdateBarTextColor() to add iOS 26+ specific code:

1. Refactors condition into useCustomColor local variable (clarity)
2. Applies back button text color via UIBarButtonItemAppearance title text attributes on all nav bar appearance states (compact, standard, scrollEdge)
3. Manually tints chevron.backward system image using ApplyTintColor() + AlwaysOriginal rendering mode for the arrow
4. Resets these when useCustomColor is false, avoiding stale state
5. Guarded by OperatingSystem.IsIOSVersionAtLeast(26) || OperatingSystem.IsMacCatalystVersionAtLeast(26)

Key Findings / Disagreements

File:Line	Issue	Status
NavigationPageFeatureTests.cs:252-254	SetIconColor_Red_Purple_Default_Visual still has Assert.Ignore for iOS 26	⚠️ INVESTIGATE
Issue17228.cs:20-22	CustomBackButtonShouldBeRed still has Assert.Ignore for iOS 26	⚠️ INVESTIGATE

Copilot reviewer flags (from inline comments, now mostly addressed):

• ✅ Assert.Ignore in Combine_BarBackgroundColor_TextColor_IconColor_Visual - FIXED
• ✅ backimage naming - FIXED
• ⚠️ Double blank line - still present at line 951-952?

Fix Candidates Table

#	Source	Approach	Test Result	Files Changed	Notes
PR	PR #34326	Use UIBarButtonItemAppearance + tinted AlwaysOriginal image for iOS 26+; removed Assert.Ignore from primary test	⏳ PENDING (Gate)	NavigationRenderer.cs (+41/-3), NavigationPageFeatureTests.cs (+1/-5)	Original PR; 2 other tests still ignore iOS 26

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🚦 Gate — Test Verification

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📝 Review Session — Address review feedback: remove iOS 26 skip and fix naming · 1d2c8a0

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Result: ✅ PASSED
Platform: iOS (ios-26)
Mode: Full Verification

Verification Results

Check	Expected	Actual	Result
Tests WITHOUT fix	FAIL	FAIL	✅
Tests WITH fix	PASS	PASS	✅

What Happened

• Tests FAIL without the fix (bug is present on iOS 26)
• Tests PASS with the fix (fix correctly applies back button color via UIBarButtonItemAppearance)

Test: Combine_BarBackgroundColor_TextColor_IconColor_Visual
File: NavigationPageFeatureTests.cs
Note: The Assert.Ignore for iOS 26 was removed in commit 1d2c8a01, enabling the test to properly exercise and validate the fix.

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🔧 Fix — Analysis & Comparison

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📝 Review Session — Address review feedback: remove iOS 26 skip and fix naming · 1d2c8a0

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Fix Candidates

#	Source	Approach	Test Result	Files Changed	Notes
PR	PR #34326	UIBarButtonItemAppearance.BackButtonAppearance on 3 appearance variants (compact/standard/scrollEdge) + NavigationBar.BackIndicatorImage with AlwaysOriginal rendering mode	✅ PASS (Gate)	NavigationRenderer.cs (+41/-3)	Original PR; most targeted approach
1	try-fix (claude-sonnet-4.6)	UINavigationBarAppearance.ButtonAppearance on 3 variants + SetBackIndicatorImage per appearance	✅ PASS	NavigationRenderer.cs	Broader than needed - affects ALL bar buttons, not just back button
2	try-fix (claude-opus-4.6)	SetTitleTextAttributes per ViewController's BackBarButtonItem + NavigationBar.BackIndicatorImage	✅ PASS	NavigationRenderer.cs	Misses newly pushed/popped VCs; per-VC complexity
3	try-fix (gpt-5.2)	Custom LeftBarButtonItem (UIButton with chevron.backward) replacing system back button	✅ PASS	NavigationRenderer.cs	Loses native iOS swipe gesture, long-press back navigation, and system accessibility behavior
4	try-fix (gpt-5.3-codex)	Runtime subview traversal to recolor back-button elements in ViewDidLayoutSubviews	✅ PASS	NavigationRenderer.cs	Fragile - relies on undocumented private view hierarchy; will break on future iOS updates
5	try-fix (gemini-3-pro-preview)	Iterate NavigationBar.Items, set TintColor + SetTitleTextAttributes on each BackBarButtonItem + BackIndicatorImage with AlwaysOriginal	✅ PASS	NavigationRenderer.cs	Only affects currently-loaded VCs, misses future navigation items
6	try-fix (gpt-5.2 R2)	UIBarButtonItem.AppearanceWhenContainedIn(UINavigationBar) global proxy	✅ PASS	NavigationRenderer.cs	Global side effect - modifies ALL UIBarButtonItems in ALL UINavigationBars app-wide; cannot properly reset per-instance

Cross-Pollination Results

Round	Model	Response
2	claude-sonnet-4.6	Suggested NavigationBar.TintColor instance - already the existing BROKEN code, not new
2	claude-opus-4.6	NO NEW IDEAS
2	gpt-5.2	Said NEW IDEA but provided no description
2	gpt-5.3-codex	Suggested BackButtonDisplayMode.Minimal - changes UX behavior, not color fix
2	gemini-3-pro-preview	Suggested colored UIImage AlwaysOriginal - same as PR fix
3	claude-sonnet-4.6	Suggested UINavigationBar subclass - overly complex
3	claude-opus-4.6	NO NEW IDEAS
3	gpt-5.2	Suggested CompactScrollEdgeAppearance (4th variant) - minor variant of PR fix
3	gpt-5.3-codex	NO NEW IDEAS
3	gemini-3-pro-preview	Suggested UINavigationControllerDelegate willShowViewController - variant of Attempt 4

Exhausted: Yes (3 rounds completed, max reached)
Selected Fix: PR's fix — BackButtonAppearance is the most semantically correct API (specifically targets back buttons vs. all bar buttons), is scoped to the specific NavigationBar instance (no global side effects from Attempt 6), and properly handles both set and reset paths. All independent alternatives either have broader scope, global side effects, fragile runtime dependency on private view hierarchy, or lose native iOS system behavior.

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📋 Report — Final Recommendation

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📝 Review Session — Address review feedback: remove iOS 26 skip and fix naming · 1d2c8a0

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✅ Final Recommendation: APPROVE

Summary

PR #34326 fixes a genuine iOS 26 regression where the navigation back button color (text and chevron arrow) was no longer applied due to Apple's iOS 26 Liquid Glass rendering pipeline change. The PR implements the correct fix using UIBarButtonItemAppearance.BackButtonAppearance, validated through Gate testing and independently confirmed by 6 alternative try-fix approaches across 5 AI models.

Root Cause

iOS 26's Liquid Glass navigation bar changed its rendering pipeline so that UINavigationBar.TintColor no longer affects back button elements (text label and chevron arrow). The fix applies the color through UIBarButtonItemAppearance with BackButtonAppearance on all three appearance contexts (compact, standard, scrollEdge), and manually tints the chevron.backward system image with AlwaysOriginal rendering mode to bypass UIKit's overriding of custom tints.

Fix Quality

The implementation is correct and follows established patterns:

• ✅ Uses BackButtonAppearance (semantically correct — targets only back buttons, not all bar buttons)
• ✅ Instance-scoped to the specific NavigationBar (no global side effects)
• ✅ Applies to all three standard appearance variants (compact, standard, scrollEdge)
• ✅ Properly resets appearance when no custom color is set (avoids stale state)
• ✅ Guarded by OperatingSystem.IsIOSVersionAtLeast(26) (backward compatible)
• ✅ Naming fixed (backImage) per codebase conventions
• ✅ Assert.Ignore removed from Combine_BarBackgroundColor_TextColor_IconColor_Visual test
• ✅ New iOS 26-specific snapshot added

Remaining Items (Non-Blocking)

Two tests still have Assert.Ignore for iOS 26 but they are separate issues not directly fixed by this PR's implementation:

1. SetIconColor_Red_Purple_Default_Visual — tests icon color states (red, purple, default) separately; may need additional work
2. Issue17228.CustomBackButtonShouldBeRed — tests back button on a different page; may be covered but not verified

These are acceptable to address in follow-up PRs.

Alternative Approaches Explored

6 independent try-fix approaches all passed, validating that the iOS 26 rendering pipeline can be fixed at multiple layers. The PR's approach using BackButtonAppearance is the most targeted and semantically correct:

Approach	Tradeoff
ButtonAppearance (Attempt 1)	Affects ALL bar buttons, broader than needed
Per-BackBarButtonItem attributes (Attempt 2)	Misses future pushed VCs
Custom LeftBarButtonItem (Attempt 3)	Loses native iOS swipe/long-press behavior
Runtime subview traversal (Attempt 4)	Fragile, depends on private view hierarchy
NavigationBar.Items iteration (Attempt 5)	Only affects currently-loaded VCs
AppearanceWhenContainedIn global proxy (Attempt 6)	Global side effect across all nav bars in app

PR's BackButtonAppearance approach wins on all criteria: targeted scope, no global side effects, proper set/reset lifecycle, and uses the iOS-designated API for back button appearance.

PR Finalize Check

• ✅ Title accurately reflects implementation: [iOS 26] Fix back button color not applied for NavigationPage
• ✅ Description matches actual changes (UIBarButtonItemAppearance + image tinting)
• ✅ NOTE block present at top of description
• ✅ Before/after screenshots included
• ✅ Code is backward compatible (no impact on iOS < 26)

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🔧 Try-Fix Analysis: ✅ 1 passed

✅ Fix 5

Approach: Explicit Back Indicator & Item Tinting

This approach manually constructs the back button appearance by:

1. Replacing the system back indicator with a specifically tinted "chevron.backward" system image (using AlwaysOriginal rendering mode).
2. Iterating through the navigation stack and explicitly setting the BackBarButtonItem.TintColor for each item, creating the item if it doesn't exist.

Different from existing fix:

• PR fix used UIBarButtonItemAppearance (Appearance API).
• Attempt 1 used UINavigationBarAppearance (Appearance API).
• Attempt 2 set TitleTextAttributes on existing items.
• Attempt 3 replaced the LeftBarButtonItem (replacing the back button concept entirely).
• Attempt 4 used subview traversal.

This approach works by leveraging the UINavigationBar.BackIndicatorImage property with a pre-tinted image (bypassing the bar's tint color) and enforcing the item's tint color directly on the instance.

diff --git a/src/Controls/src/Core/Compatibility/Handlers/NavigationPage/iOS/NavigationRenderer.cs b/src/Controls/src/Core/Compatibility/Handlers/NavigationPage/iOS/NavigationRenderer.cs
index a120b1cdee..de3753a1d9 100644
--- a/src/Controls/src/Core/Compatibility/Handlers/NavigationPage/iOS/NavigationRenderer.cs
+++ b/src/Controls/src/Core/Compatibility/Handlers/NavigationPage/iOS/NavigationRenderer.cs
@@ -943,9 +943,42 @@ namespace Microsoft.Maui.Controls.Handlers.Compatibility
 			if (iconColor == null)
 				iconColor = barTextColor;
 
-			NavigationBar.TintColor = iconColor == null || NavPage.OnThisPlatform().GetStatusBarTextColorMode() == StatusBarTextColorMode.DoNotAdjust
+			var platformColor = iconColor == null || NavPage.OnThisPlatform().GetStatusBarTextColorMode() == StatusBarTextColorMode.DoNotAdjust
 				? UINavigationBar.Appearance.TintColor
 				: iconColor.ToPlatform();
+
+			NavigationBar.TintColor = platformColor;
+
+			// Attempt 5: Explicit Back Indicator & Item Tinting
+			if (iconColor != null && OperatingSystem.IsIOSVersionAtLeast(13))
+			{
+				// 1. Force the chevron color by using a pre-tinted image
+				var backImage = UIImage.GetSystemImage("chevron.backward");
+				if (backImage != null)
+				{
+					// Tint the image and force AlwaysOriginal so it ignores the broken Bar TintColor
+					var tintedImage = backImage.ApplyTintColor(platformColor).ImageWithRenderingMode(UIImageRenderingMode.AlwaysOriginal);
+					NavigationBar.BackIndicatorImage = tintedImage;
+					NavigationBar.BackIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = tintedImage;
+				}
+
+				// 2. Force the text color by iterating items and setting TintColor on BackBarButtonItem
+				foreach (var item in NavigationBar.Items)
+				{
+					if (item.BackBarButtonItem == null)
+					{
+						// Create a back button item if one doesn't exist, using the item's title
+						// This ensures we have an object to attach the color to
+						item.BackBarButtonItem = new UIBarButtonItem(item.Title ?? "Back", UIBarButtonItemStyle.Plain, null, null);
+					}
+					
+					// Explicitly set the TintColor on the item instance
+					item.BackBarButtonItem.TintColor = platformColor;
+					
+					// Also set attributes just in case TintColor alone isn't enough for text
+					item.BackBarButtonItem.SetTitleTextAttributes(new UIStringAttributes { ForegroundColor = platformColor }, UIControlState.Normal);
+				}
+			}
 		}
 
 		void SetStatusBarStyle()

Analysis

Result: Pass

What happened:
The test Combine_BarBackgroundColor_TextColor_IconColor_Visual passed successfully.
Initially, the test failed to compile because EstablishBrokenBaseline.ps1 reverted VisualRegressionTester.cs (infrastructure) which UITest.cs depended on. Restoring VisualRegressionTester.cs resolved the compilation error, allowing the test to run and verify the fix.

Why it worked:
The fix addresses the issue where UINavigationBar.TintColor is ignored by the system back button on newer iOS versions (simulated context).

1. Chevron: By retrieving the system back image (chevron.backward), explicitly tinting it with the desired color, and setting it as BackIndicatorImage with RenderingMode.AlwaysOriginal, we bypass the system's broken tinting logic.
2. Text: By iterating through the navigation stack and explicitly creating/updating the BackBarButtonItem for each item, and setting the TintColor property directly on the item instance, we ensure the text color is applied correctly. This instance-level setting often takes precedence or works where global/container appearance proxies fail.

Insights:

• Explicitly managing the BackBarButtonItem instance allows for more granular control than relying on implicit system behavior.
• Using AlwaysOriginal rendering mode for the back indicator image is a reliable workaround when propagation is broken.
• The legacy approach was considered but the direct instance modification proved effective and simpler to target specific items in the stack.

📋 Expand PR Finalization Review

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Title: ✅ Good

Current: [iOS 26] Fix back button color not applied for NavigationPage

Description: ✅ Excellent

Description needs updates. See details below.

Code Review: ⚠️ Issues Found

Code Review — PR #34326

PR: #34326 - [iOS 26] Fix back button color not applied for NavigationPage

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🔴 Critical Issues

None.

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🟡 Suggestions

1. VerifyScreenshot() — Tolerance and Retry Removed

File: src/Controls/tests/TestCases.Shared.Tests/Tests/FeatureMatrix/NavigationPageFeatureTests.cs

Change:

// Before:
VerifyScreenshot(tolerance: 0.5, retryTimeout: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2));

// After:
VerifyScreenshot();

Observation: The original tolerance: 0.5 and retryTimeout: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2) were added to accommodate rendering variance and animation timing. Their removal is appropriate if the fix makes iOS 26 back button rendering fully deterministic, but could reintroduce flakiness if there is any sub-pixel variation in the iOS 26 Liquid Glass rendering across simulator versions or screen resolutions.

Recommendation: If CI confirms consistent baseline snapshot matching, this change is fine. If flakiness appears in CI runs, restore retryTimeout: TimeSpan.FromSeconds(2) as per the UI testing guidelines which recommend retryTimeout over tolerance for timing issues.

Risk: Low — this is a test-only change and the worst case is a revert back to the previous VerifyScreenshot arguments.

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✅ Looks Good

Core Fix Approach

The fix correctly identifies and uses the right API for iOS 26+ Liquid Glass:

// iOS 26+ Liquid Glass ignores TintColor for the back button; apply via appearance instead.
if (OperatingSystem.IsIOSVersionAtLeast(26) || OperatingSystem.IsMacCatalystVersionAtLeast(26))
{
    if (useCustomColor)
    {
        var backColor = iconColor.ToPlatform();
        var colorAttributes = NSDictionary<NSString, NSObject>.FromObjectsAndKeys(
            new NSObject[] { backColor }, new NSString[] { UIStringAttributeKey.ForegroundColor });
        var appearance = new UIBarButtonItemAppearance(UIBarButtonItemStyle.Plain);
        appearance.Normal.TitleTextAttributes = colorAttributes;
        appearance.Highlighted.TitleTextAttributes = colorAttributes;
        NavigationBar.CompactAppearance.BackButtonAppearance = appearance;
        NavigationBar.StandardAppearance.BackButtonAppearance = appearance;
        NavigationBar.ScrollEdgeAppearance.BackButtonAppearance = appearance;
        ...

• ✅ UIBarButtonItemAppearance.BackButtonAppearance is the correct API to override back button styling on iOS 26 Liquid Glass where TintColor is no longer respected.
• ✅ Both Normal and Highlighted states are set for consistent color in both pressed and unpressed states.
• ✅ All three appearance contexts (CompactAppearance, StandardAppearance, ScrollEdgeAppearance) are set — consistent with the existing pattern used throughout the renderer for other appearance properties (e.g., ShadowColor, TitleTextAttributes).

AlwaysOriginal Rendering Mode for Back Arrow Image

var tinted = backImage.ApplyTintColor(backColor).ImageWithRenderingMode(UIImageRenderingMode.AlwaysOriginal);
NavigationBar.BackIndicatorImage = tinted;
NavigationBar.BackIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = tinted;

• ✅ AlwaysOriginal rendering mode is correctly used to prevent the system from reapplying its own tint color on top of the pre-tinted image. Without it, iOS would override the color.
• ✅ Both BackIndicatorImage and BackIndicatorTransitionMaskImage are set — matching documentation requirements for the back button chevron.
• ✅ Null check on backImage (if (backImage is not null)) guards against the unlikely case where the system image is unavailable.

Cleanup Path When No Custom Color

else
{
    NavigationBar.CompactAppearance.BackButtonAppearance = null;
    NavigationBar.StandardAppearance.BackButtonAppearance = null;
    NavigationBar.ScrollEdgeAppearance.BackButtonAppearance = null;
    NavigationBar.BackIndicatorImage = null;
    NavigationBar.BackIndicatorTransitionMaskImage = null;
}

• ✅ Properly resets to system defaults when no custom color is configured.
• ✅ Null-setting BackButtonAppearance lets the system use default Liquid Glass styling.

Refactored Condition

// Before (one-liner):
NavigationBar.TintColor = iconColor == null || NavPage.OnThisPlatform().GetStatusBarTextColorMode() == StatusBarTextColorMode.DoNotAdjust
    ? UINavigationBar.Appearance.TintColor
    : iconColor.ToPlatform();

// After (extracted):
var useCustomColor = iconColor != null && NavPage.OnThisPlatform().GetStatusBarTextColorMode() != StatusBarTextColorMode.DoNotAdjust;

NavigationBar.TintColor = useCustomColor
    ? iconColor.ToPlatform()
    : UINavigationBar.Appearance.TintColor;

• ✅ Extracting useCustomColor improves readability and eliminates the need to duplicate the condition check in the iOS 26 block below. Good refactoring.

Test Update

• ✅ Correctly removes Assert.Ignore("Ignored due to a bug issue in iOS 26") — this skip was a temporary workaround for [iOS] Color not applied to the Back button text or image on iOS 26 #33966 and should be removed now that the bug is fixed.
• ✅ New iOS 26 baseline snapshot Combine_BarBackgroundColor_TextColor_IconColor_Visual.png added to snapshots/ios-26/ — provides visual regression protection for the fixed behavior.

Backward Compatibility

• ✅ The entire iOS 26 block is gated behind OperatingSystem.IsIOSVersionAtLeast(26) || OperatingSystem.IsMacCatalystVersionAtLeast(26). The pre-iOS 26 code path is completely unchanged.
• ✅ No public API changes.

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[kubaflo]

Hi! Could you please resolve conflicts, so that we can merge?

[Shalini-Ashokan]

Hi! Could you please resolve conflicts, so that we can merge?

@kubaflo, The conflicts have been resolved.